The Bet
by fantasmic-lol-get-it
Summary: Maybeck, while being humiliated by Finn and Philby, makes a bet he's sure to regret.
1. The Bet

Finn, Maybeck, and Philby were waiting for the girls at the Frozen Marble. Today, Maybeck was being specially annoying to Finn.

"I'm Larry the fish, look at my fins! Get it? Fins? Finn?" He tried, but Finn was just rolling his eyes and Philby was engrossed with his laptop.

"What's wrong with you, Whitman? Got your head stuck inside a Tuba?" This time Maybeck got a reaction.

"How the heck do you even know I played the Tuba?" Finn shouted. He was sick of it. For the fifteen minutes they had waited, all he had heard was Maybeck insulting him, making stupid jokes about him, or just plain old annoying him. Sure, he was used to Maybeck doing all of that stuff, but today he'd taken it to a whole new level.

"I know everything. I'm that awesome."

Finn practically growled.

"Can you two please shut up?" Philby said, not taking his eyes off the laptop. "Finn, he's just mad because you got a girlfriend before he did."

"Untrue, dude!" Maybeck exclaimed, even though the statement was true. "I'm not mad about that, and I once went on a date with Jez, remember? That counts as dating, which some people count as "girlfriend", and I'm one of those people."

Finn laughed. "She only went on that date with you to trap you, Donnie."

"Maybe, but she probably got to choose who to capture."

"_Whom_." Professor Philby corrected.

Maybeck glared at him.

"Yeah, and Jez chose you because she figured you'd be the easiest to fool. Which you are." Finn snapped.

"I can get practically any girl I want." Maybeck said, with his usual overconfident tone.

"Just like you kissed Charlene, huh?" Philby said, finally taking his eyes away from his laptop.

Maybeck was fuming. One thing was to make fun of him, another was to challenge him. And these two morons were doing both things.

"I bet you I can get Jess to go on a date with me by Friday. I win, Philby has to make my homework every day, and Finn has to pay for my food." Said Maybeck.

"And if you lose?" Philby asked.

"He has to wear one of Charlene's dresses to school for a week." Finn answered, trying not to laugh at Maybeck's nervous expression.

"What, Ladies Man can't get a date?" Philby asked, obviously noticing Maybeck's face, too.

"N-no.. I'm.." Maybeck stammered, probably for the first time in his life. "I'm just wondering about Jess's boyfriend, Rob." He mentally high-fived himself for the good excuse.

"She broke up with him last year, so she's free." Finn said.

Maybeck mentally slapped himself for the bad excuse.

"Fine. I'll do this. Start saving your money, Whitman. I eat 10 meals a day. Not counting ice cream." Maybeck said, hiding his anxiousness.

"Start planning on how to ask Charlene for a dress, Macbeth."

* * *

><p>Jess was having a day full of surprises.<p>

First, she'd aced a test she had been very nervous about.

Second, Mrs. Nash was not home all day. Why she was gone, she didn't care or wanted to know. Jess was planning on enjoying liberty, knowing it wouldn't last long.

Third, she'd had a vision. It wasn't completed, so she didn't tell anyone about it. Not even Amanda. All she had were a few chairs, two unrecognizable men, and a piñata.

Fourth, Maybeck had been nice to her all afternoon. He'd even carried her ice cream!

And last, but certainly not least, Maybeck had asked to walk her home.

_Maybeck._

Jess had been suspicious at first. Was he going to prank her? Was he making fun of her? Was he just being Maybeckish?

But, walking beside him in the humid Florida night, her suspiciousness was slowly disappearing. Maybe Maybeck was feeling chivalrous today.

_Enjoy it while it lasts, use him against him later_, she said to herself.

An awkward silence was between them. Why, oh, why had Amanda stayed with Finn to talk? She'd talked to him all afternoon! Okay, maybe they hadn't been alone, and nobody can really talk peacefully in one of the Keepers reunions, but still! Amanda would see Finn tomorrow at school, anyway.

"So..." Jess said.

"This is awkward." Maybeck muttered, staring at some trees.

"Why did you ask to walk me home?" Jess blurted out, and instantly blushed. If he noticed, though, he didn't show it.

"I dunno. To spend a little bit more time with you." He winked.

Jess rolled her eyes, smiling.

"What has gotten into you today? You normally fight with me, not flirt." She gave him a teasing smile. Two could play his game.

"Maybe I opened my eyes for the first time." He said, stopping in front of the Foster Home's door.

_Can he be any more cheesier? Gag._

Jess opened the door, got inside the house, and turned to look at him.

"Oh, really?"

"Really."

"Mine aren't totally opened yet.. maybe a kiss would help?" Jess battled her eyelashes. Maybeck looked.. relieved. Oh, please. Had he really bought that?

"Maybe it would." Maybeck was starting to lean closer.. and closer.. until-

SLAM!

Jess closed the door right on his face.

"Very funny!" Maybeck shouted from outside.

"I thought so! Night, Maybeck." She shouted back.

Jess saw some of the Foster Girls staring curiously at her, dying to know what had happened. _Such gossips._

She pretended not to see them and went straight to her lower bunk, and soon realized she was having big trouble falling asleep.

Her mind was filled with questions.

Was Maybeck being honest?

Was he just trying to make fun of her?

Should she have kissed him?

Was she being stupid?

Why couldn't she stop thinking about it?

She heard Amanda quietly climb to the upper bunk, obviously thinking Jess was asleep.

_One thing's for sure, _Jess thought. _Maybeck's one weird dude._


	2. Strange Situations

Maybeck was _not _happy.

It hadn't even been a _month _since Charlene had rejected him, and now he'd been rejected a second time. Third time if he counted Willa mentioning Philby in Morocco. Being rejected hurt him like failing a test would hurt Philby.

Yeah. _That _bad.

Maybeck had less than a week to get Jess to go on a date with him, and he did _not _like wearing dresses!

Last night, he'd tried taking it slow, because, after the Charlene thingy, he realized that maybe fast wasn't too smooth. He'd been so happy when Jess suggested that he kissed her, he thought the bet would be easy to win, after all. But all of that had vanished the moment she closed the door in front of his nose. An inch, and he could've been injured!

But Terry Maybeck wasn't one to give up from one night to another, which was why the next day he found himself outside Mrs. Nash's Foster Home. But how to reach Jess?

Knock? No way, he'd heard enough of Mrs. Nash to know she would prob'ly kill him, and he was too cool to die so young.

Sneak in? Ha, as if. He could just imagine one of the girls seeing him. Mrs. Nash would probably hear the scream, and she wouldn't just kill him. He'd use parts of his face for her Tamale Pie or whatever. And if there's one thing worse than being cooked for a meal, it's being rejected as a meal.

Go window through window and see if he can find Jess? Hmm.. if there was no other option.

Maybeck ducked and started to circle the house, crawling, getting up only to glance through windows, careful not to hurt his head with the bottom of them.

The first window he glanced at had its curtains closed.

The second, too.

The third one was painted black.

_Shoot, _Maybeck thought. _They're probably all like that._

But the thought of wearing a dress to school kept him crawling.

_Stupid Philby and Finn. _

_Stupid dresses._

_Stupid rejections._

He continued like that for what seemed like four hours, but was really ten minutes.

Suddenly "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" started playing from his pocket, and he jumped so high he hurt his head with the corner of a window.

"Ack!" It hurt so much he wanted to cry, but with his cell phone telling him to "(_Be a man!) With all the strength of a raging fire!_", crying seemed highly inappropriate.

He suddenly heard footsteps coming his way. He quickly silenced his phone.

What to do?

How to escape?

Was the Nash dudette going to kill him?

And then a voice, "What the hell are you doing?"

_STUPID RINGTONE!_

* * *

><p>Earlier that day, Jess had gone home only to find Mrs. Nash wearing the same clothes she had worn the morning before that day. And, not that her unusual appearance didn't unnerve Jess-because Mrs. Nash <em>never <em>used the same clothes twice in the same week-but what the woman was doing sent Jess into a rage. She was looking through her stuff.

Mrs. Nash and Jess fought for a little while, as Jess did not calm down when Mrs. Nash said she was making sure no one had any objects that weren't allowed in her house.

"Why aren't you looking through someone else's stuff too, then?" Jess had challenged, because only _her _bunk looked like a total mess.

"I don't have to explain anything to you, young lady!" The strict foster parent had said, and without any other comment, turned around and left.

Jess was so glad she'd put her iPod and Journal in her backpack.

She'd spent the rest of the afternoon doodling, and stopped only when Amanda's upside-down face suddenly popped on her bunk's upper left side.

"It's your turn to take out the trash." Amanda said.

Jess shook her head. "Nu-uh. I did it last time."

"Yeah, right. _I _did it last Tuesday. It's your turn." Amanda insisted.

Jess rolled her eyes. "Can you do it for me? I'm kinda busy."

"No way, I already took out the trash for you last week."

"_Please!"_

"Fine," Amanda said, obviously not in the mood for a discussion. "You grab one bag, I grab the other. Okay?"

Jess sighed. This was the best deal she'd get.

They got out of the house, each carrying a plastic bag. They soon did their job and were about to go inside when Jess heard something.

"Did you hear that?" She asked Amanda.

"Yeah, probably one of the neighbor's cats." And with that, Jess's sister went inside the house.

Jess stood there for a second, thinking. And then her curiosity won her over, and she ran toward the sound.

Only to find Maybeck on the ground, looking like he was in pain.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jess asked. She looked at the phone in his hand, and then at the window. Her bedroom's window, she realized, recognizing Jeannie's poster of Finn through the thin curtains.

"Oh.. my... gosh. Were you taking pictures? You're _such _a creep!"

"What-no-I wasn't taking pictures! I was trying to find you so I could talk to you! I took the phone out when someone called me!" Maybeck said.

Jess didn't completely believe him.

"Yeah, right. Let's pretend I'm an idiot and I believe that. You found me, what did you want to say?"

"_I wasn't taking pictures!" _

Jess considered it for a moment and then snatched his phone, ignoring his protests. She looked at his pictures and realized that he was telling the truth.

"Okay," Jess said while returning the phone. "I believe you. Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Maybeck hesitated.

"Would you go on a date with me this Friday?"

Wait, what? A date? Maybeck? Friday?

She flashbacked to the night before and walked to where he was, her face inches from his. She spoked clearly, as if she didn't have much patience and was talking to a baby.

"Look, Maybeck. I don't know why you're doing this, and I know I probably don't want to know. But you can't just expect me to accept to go on a date with you, because, fact is, I don't trust you." Jess's voice started getting louder as he stared at her. "You're not the type of guy a girl can trust. So if you really want to go out on a date with me, if you're being honest, then you'll have to swoop me off my feet! No overly-cheesy flirting, no Ladies Man act, no pranks. You hear me Donnie? I'm not the kind of girl-"

But whatever Jess was going to say didn't get to be said, because at that moment and just like that, Maybeck had leaned in and kissed her.


	3. From Hard to Harder

**A/N: Thanks to the people who favorited this story, and a very special thank-you to Xixi Scarlet for reviewing! I am really sorry I haven't updated in a big while now, but I've been kinda stuck in Post-Potter Depression. I'm writing my way out of it, though! **

While he was kissing her, she only had two straight thoughts:

1- How dare he interrupt her while shouting, she had a _lot _more to say to him!

2- The kiss was, and she hated to think this, good. And that scared her.

She broke away from him, and tried to get her head to work. _Think, Jess. Don't be an idiot!_

Maybeck was grinning like he'd done the smartest move ever.

_Get him where it'll hurt- he's obsessed with being "the man", isn't he?_

"How was _that _not cheesy?" Jess hissed.

Maybeck's smiled quivered. Jess silently congratulated herself.

"Did you expect that?" He said, after taking a moment to gather his cool on.

"No, but that didn't make it any less cliché!"

He suddenly looked mad.

Now it was Jess's turn to feel uneasy.

"How am I supposed to 'swoop you off your feet', then?" Maybeck used a ridiculously pathetic high voice to indicate that he was quoting her.

"I don't freaking care! That's _your _problem." Jess said, poking his chest at the word "your".

"Keep playing hard to get and no guy will ever like you." He confronted.

Jess smiled sarcastically.

"Oh, yes, because _I, _someone who's been in an actual relationship before, am going to hear _you, _who's never actually dated anyone." She said coolly.

"I went in a date with your evil self." Maybeck reminded her.

She tried to make her best fake gag.

"Yeah, evil me had no good taste."

"Oh, because Rob Pants-On-The-Ground Ber-what's-his-name was a real treat."

"Get out!" She shouted. "Go away or I'm screaming at the top of my lungs until Nash comes!"

"How can I get out if I'm already outside?" Maybeck said, but ran away when he saw Jess's glare.

She sighed.

That boy seriously messed with her mind.

* * *

><p>The next day, Wednesday, Philby called Maybeck to tell him that the Keepers were meeting at the Frozen Marble because Jess had had some strange visions. Before ending the call, Philby had the sudden urge to tease him about how things were going with Jess.<p>

"I heard Jess tell Willa about how you creeped outside her window and then fought with her. Sounds like someone's going to need a dress..." Philby laughed. He normally didn't do things like this, but Maybeck thought Philby was getting even for all those "Philbo the Hippo" comments.

"I'll send you my homework schedule, Dell."

"See you later, Tonnie."

"Tonnie?"

"Terry... Donnie... Get it?"

Maybeck hung up.

* * *

><p>Two hours later, Maybeck was sitting next to Finn at the Frozen Marble, waiting to hear all about Jess's dreams.<p>

"O-okay," she started, avoiding Maybeck's eyes. She showed everyone at the table her diary, opening at a page that was obviously her new vision.

Maybeck heard Charlene gasp.

There were a lot of chairs, all taken by children. Except one. Mrs. Nash was sitting around the children. In front of the chairs was a piñata in form of a castle-Cinderella's, Maybeck guessed. Instead of candy, apples were coming out of it, and, even weirder, the piñata was on fire.

Two Disney characters were to the left of the piñata: Hades and Gaston.

Everyone looked around, not wanting to be the fitst to comment. They thought they would have zero Overtakers-related problems until the cruise.

"What does this mean?" Willa asked.

"Looks like the unluckiest birthday party in the entire universe." Amanda said.

"Yes! And Gaston? He gives me the creeps!" Charlene said.

"Probably because he is a creep." Maybeck replied.

"You'd know, wouldn't you, Maybeck?" Jess asked.

That hit him. He was about to answer with a witty remark when Philby's trembling voice said, "Hey isn't that...?"

Everyone looked to where he was pointing. A girl with brown hair and green eyes was seating on the front row, and Finn suddenly looked like he was about to pass out.

"Sarah," Finn gulped. "my little sister. She has her birthday this Friday. Some kids are coming around three o'clock and going away at six. And she specifically asked for a piñata of Cinderella Castle."

"But what's Mrs. Nash doing there?" Philby asked.

"She's been acting weird lately. On Monday, we didn't see her after school. Yesterday, she came home wearing the same clothes she was wearing on Monday morning, _and _was searching for something in my stuff." Jess said.

_Oh, maybe Jess wasn't pissed because of me, _Maybeck thought. _Maybe she was in such a cranky mood because of Nash._

Maybeck was gleefully liking that idea. He started thinking about how he could use the Nash thing in his favor, so he missed when Amanda and Jess shared an anxious glance.

"What?" Finn didn't miss it. "What happened?"

"You know how the OTs had kids wearing green contacts, but then took them away?" Amanda said. "Well, Mrs. Nash was wearing green contacts today. What if they decided to put them on adults to make us more afraid?"

After a moment of silence and thinking, Charlene opened her mouth.

"Well, it's definitely working." Charlene said.

"What are we supposed to do?" Maybeck asked.

"You're all coming over Friday after school," Finn, as usual, had the probably-flawfull-but-only plan. "Philby, keep an extra watch on the DHI servers. Charlene and Willa, look up what you can about Gaston and Hades-what they were defeated with in the first place, and if there's any hint of what'd they do at a kids' party."

"Why me? I never get the research!" Charlene complained.

"Look at the apples-those have 'Evil Queen' all over them, and you were on a spell the longest." Then Finn smiled. "Besides, you like parties."

Charlene didn't complain after that.

"Jess, if you get any more visions, be sure to tell us."

Last, but not least, Finn looked at Maybeck.

He starting mouthing some words, but he was so bad Maybeck just asked him what he meant.

"Get the dress," Finn said.

The girls shared confused glances.

Maybeck wanted to kill somebody. With the OTs at job, his chances of winning the bet went from low to lower.


End file.
